Hawkeye Was Wanda Maximoff’s Surrogate Brother in Elizabeth Olsen’s Eyes, Making ‘WandaVision’ More Heartbreaking
After watching WandaVision, it’s hard not to see how much Wanda Maximoff was hurting throughout the series, after Avengers: Endgame. She was mourning and grieving so badly that when the townspeople of Westview were inside her head, they begged her to kill them rather than live another day. But where were her fellow Avengers? By now, it’s also clear to see they’re more like co-workers than family, but Clint Barton was the closest she had to a family after all of hers were gone. Hearing what Elizabeth Olsen had to say about Hawkeye’s and Wanda’s relationship since Avengers: Age of Ultron makes his absence in the wake of her loss of Vision so much worse.
Wanda Maximoff has had a lot of losses in her life, but Clint Barton was actually a close friend
Wanda’s been through a lot. She lost her parents when she was a child; they died right in front of her thanks to a Stark Industries bomb. Then her brother died after they switched over to the Avengers’ side of things in Age of Ultron. Now Vision is gone, which is even more traumatic because she had to kill him and he died twice.
On top of that, aspects of her old life are gone and the team is not the same either. Natasha’s dead and so is Tony; Steve is no longer around and the world is completely changed after the five years with half the world missing. Wanda, like a lot of people, has to deal with a lot of change. But unlike a lot of people, she has that added trauma compounding her fresh grief.
Someone in this position needs a good support system. However, she’s all alone on her way to S.W.O.R.D. and no one seems to contact her before or after her time in Westview either. We, of course, only see a short time frame, but still. Where’s Clint?
It might seem odd to ask at first, but thinking back on it, he had a bond with Pietro and Wanda. After Pietro’s sacrifice, Clint even named his son’s middle name after the Maximoff twin.
Then, in Captain America: Civil War, there is more time spent between Wanda and Hawkeye, even outside of him breaking her out of the compound. In Avengers: Endgame, that throughline is continued yet again after Tony Stark’s funeral.
And for Elizabeth Olsen, Hawkeye became Wanda’s ‘surrogate brother’ after Pietro died
But don’t take just take that word for it. At an ACE Comic Convention in 2018, Olsen shared who she’d be closest to outside of an MCU set, and she reflected on how much time she’s spent with Renner since she was cast as Wanda Maximoff.
“Renner and I made a couple of movies together, Wind River,” she said. “And he kind of became my surrogate brother in Captain America: Civil War, so I got very close with him.”
Tom Hiddleston, who she shared the stage with for the panel, excitedly said, “He anoints you as an Avenger, in Ultron.” Hiddleston really made sure to do his research for this panel and it showed.
“Yes, and they have this amazing continuation of like a big brother relationship,” Olsen shared. “And so I feel like I’ve worked with Renner— And also we were the first ones to work on that in Italy. He was the only actor I worked with. I worked with him before I worked with Aaron [Taylor-Johnson].”
Taylor-Johnson and Olsen knew each other previously as well due to their work together on Godzilla. And Olsen, of course, had to end her list of well-matched co-stars with Paul Bettany, her Vision.
His absence in her grief now feels really loud post-’WandaVision’
This really makes Wanda’s solitude going into WandaVision all the more heartbreaking. Why was she even alone? Why didn’t Clint make sure he was around for her or insist that she be around the farm and his family to help her mourn? It seems like a bit of a mistake. But is it also just selfish on his behalf?
Yes, they were all dealing with death and loss. Clint lost his close friend Natasha, too, who was a longtime fighting partner and even godmother to his kids. She was the only one who knew about his secret farm and family because he trusted her the most. However… Clint losing Natasha but gaining back his children and wife is not the same mourning and loss that Wanda is feeling after losing Vision.
Plus, Wanda is all alone. She has no family — dead, remember? — and now she lost the love of her life too. She didn’t gain anything in the Blip, since to her it’s only been five minutes, not five years. And to top it all off, Barton doesn’t seem to reach out to her.
Let’s say he did and they spent time together. It’s very possible considering it was three weeks or so. But then was he checking up on her? Making sure she wasn’t alone? It’s hardly fair to blame anyone for Wanda’s catastrophic mistake of taking Westview hostage. And how could he have known she was that unstable and able to do something like that? But his absence, in the wake of remembering he was the next closest thing she had to a family after she also lost Natasha (who she seemed to be close to), just feels so much louder.
